Last year, I won a commission to compose a new piece for the Linn-Mar String Orchestra. (You can read about it here.) Shortly after that I left Iowa to begin a new job in Michigan. Director Joshua Reznicow and I were worried that the distance between Linn-Mar and me would diminish my interaction with the students--after all, the commission is supposed to bring them into the compositional process. So I suggested that a blog might bridge the gap a bit.

I intend to write blog entries keeping the Linn-Mar students up to date on my progress. Who knows? Maybe I'll even include audio clips when I get that far.

Hey students! Please read this thing, okay? It's going to be non-stop excitement. I promise. I hope you'll feel free to respond to my blog posts with questions or comments. It'll be a good way for us to get to know each other a little bit before the premiere this Spring.

The experiment begins...